Brussels, 19/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 14 November during an interview with EUROPE, Judith Sargentini MEP (Greens/EFA, Netherlands) called on the EU and Egypt to investigate the hostage taking of African refugees - particularly Eritreans in Sinai, Egypt. She would like the EU to investigate the money that the refugees' families in Europe send to the hostage takers. “Europe should investigate this money which goes from Europe to Egypt - they are enormous sums”, she said. Sargentini would also like Europe - especially Europol - to conduct an inquiry into the possibility that Europe is involved in the organ trafficking that affects these kidnapped refugees. “If there are signs of organ trafficking, can we pretend that they are not going to Europe? Shouldn't we hold an inquiry into this? Is this not a matter for Europol?”, she asked. She also spoke about the rights of the refugees.
Sargentini called on Egypt to prosecute the kidnappers and to send troops to Sinai.
EU ready to help Egypt.
The European External Action Service (EEAS) told EUROPE on 16 November that it will “continue to urge the Egyptian authorities to take the appropriate measures to ensure that the human rights of migrants and refugees are fully respected”. The EEAS press office said that the EU has called on the Egyptian authorities to ensure that the principle of non-refoulement is observed for all migrants in need of international protection. “Thus we have called on them to allow the UNHCR to implement its mandate on the entire territory of Egypt, including the Sinai region in compliance with Egypt's international commitments”, the press office stated.
Saying that the EU is ready to support the Egyptian authorities' fight against traffickers and to control the borders in “a more efficient manner” while fulfilling their international human rights commitments, the EEAS stated that Egypt has so far declined the European offer of cooperation on reform of the security sector. “We will reiterate our offer to the new Egyptian authorities and hope they will be more forthcoming”, the EEAS added, underlining that without an in-depth reform of the security sector and without additional means for fighting trafficking and organised crime, the situation will not improve.
Thousands of African immigrants - virtually all Eritreans - are kidnapped and large ransoms (more than $50,000) are demanded from their families in the West. The hostages are tortured, raped and sometimes killed, and some of them are subjected to organ trafficking. (CG/transl.fl)